Posted on 10/25/2008 8:32:50 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOI SAM, Pakistan – Pakistan's army captured a key militant stronghold near the Afghan border, a breakthrough in a bloody push against the Taliban and al-Qaida that has claimed 95 civilian lives, the military said Saturday.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said troops on Saturday captured Loi Sam, a town in the Bajur region sitting on a vital intersection connecting the border to three neighboring Pakistani regions.
"Now we have complete control in this area from where miscreants used to go to Afghanistan," Abbas told reporters flown into Bajur on a military helicopter Saturday. "Miscreants have been expelled or killed."
Pakistan's army launched an offensive in Bajur in early August, saying the region had become a "mega-sanctuary" for militants waging an intensifying insurgency on both sides of the frontier.
U.S. officials praised the operation, saying it had helped reduce violence on the Afghan side of the border.
However, there has been no halt to the regular American missile strikes on suspected militants hideouts in other parts of Pakistan's wild frontier region, despite Islamabad's protests the attacks violate its sovereignty.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
a ‘mega-sanctuary’ .. smack dab in the middle of the action.
Good work, Pakistani troops! Keep it up!
New Zealand Yahoo .. AFP article.
LOISAM, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani troops have recaptured a key town from Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants after a two-month operation in which 1,500 rebels and 73 soldiers were killed, the military said on Saturday.
Islamabad has previously hailed its operation in Bajaur as proof that it is responding to US and Afghan demands to take action against extremists in Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal areas.
The extremists are accused of launching attacks on US and other foreign troops operating across the border in Afghanistan .
"Loisam has been captured after stiff resistance," Major General Tariq Khan, head of the paramilitary Frontier Corps force, told reporters in Khar, the regional capital.
--snip--
"More than 1,500 militants have been killed during the operation and security forces have gained major successes," Khan said, updating a toll given during a similar visit about a month ago.
Security forces have captured more than 300 foreign militants, mainly from Afghanistan , Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, in the operation, he said.
AFP Pakistani soldiers on patrol during a military operation against
Islamic militants in Darra Adam Khel in September 2008.
Pakistani troops have recaptured a key town from Al-Qaeda and
Taliban militants after a two-month operation in which 1,500
rebels and 73 soldiers were killed, the military said Saturday.
May it continue - no more pull backs, no more ‘cease fires’
We need more Predators....
This is a hot area.
Thanks Ernest. Lookie, some spin!
> a bloody push against the Taliban and al-Qaida that has *claimed 95 civilian lives*, the military said Saturday.
...looks like the Pak attack has been in response to the continued attacks on areas controlled by NGOs (terrorists), as if that violates Pak sovereignty.
> U.S. officials praised the operation, saying it had helped reduce violence on the Afghan side of the border. However, there has been no halt to the regular American missile strikes on suspected militants hideouts in other parts of Pakistan’s wild frontier region, despite Islamabad’s protests the attacks violate its sovereignty.
Bin Laden to come up with book on al-Qaeda
The News | 2030 PST, Friday, October 24, 2008 | staff
Posted on 10/25/2008 10:02:54 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2115053/posts
If our interdiction strikes into that area are violations of sovereignty, then aren’t attacks on our own that originate from within that area a declaration of war?
If Pakistan wants to claim full sovereignty over that area, then they also must accept full responsibility for what comes out of that area.
Precisely.
Ping - progress against al Qaeda in Pakistan ping.
It sure looks like the Paki are starting to take the fight to their enemy which just happens to be ours as well. This all may end well in a few years.
Awesome news!
Thank you for the post and ping!
Yes, it does look like they’re finally doing something.
Yes, it does look like they’re finally doing something.
You bet.
Thank you for all that you do.
God love you, and all others, who are in harms way.
Oh, I’m not in harms way now. But I’ll take God’s love. Take care,
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